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Tue Mar 9, 3:03 pm ET
MIAMI (AFP) Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea
have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors,
backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions.
University of Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan, in a report
published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, documented papaya's anticancer
effect against tumors of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas.
The researchers used an extract made from dried papaya leaves, and the effects
were stronger when cells received larger doses of papaya leaf tea.
Dang and the other scientists showed that papaya leaf extract boosts the
production of key signaling molecules called Th1-type cytokines, which help
regulate the immune system.
This could lead to therapeutic treatments that use the immune system to fight
cancers, they said in the February issue of the journal and released Tuesday by
the university.
Papaya has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments in many parts
of the world, especially Asia.
Deng said the results are consistent with reports from indigenous populations
in Australia and his native Vietnam.
The researchers said papaya extract did not have any toxic effects on normal
cells, avoiding a common side effect of many cancer treatments.
Researchers exposed 10 different types of cancer cell cultures to four
strengths of papaya leaf extract and measured the effect after 24 hours. Papaya
slowed the growth of tumors in all the cultures.
Dang and a colleague have applied to patent the process to distill the papaya
extract through the University of Tokyo.